Hopes of new ceasefire fade as Saudis join Trump’s war in the Middle East with strikes on Iraq
A furious Donald Trump has threatened to punish Iran following a “surprise” attack on US military targets in the Middle East.
The offensive took place days after the US president suspended air strikes over the region.
In an expletive-ridden outburst, he told Fox News: “We’re going to beat the f****** sh** out of them. We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”
In a day of escalation in the region, Saudi Arabia also joined the US in striking several Iran-backed groups.
Mr Trump’s angry comments came after the US Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had launched ballistic missiles at US military units.
Iran confirmed late on Tuesday that it had fired at US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also rejected an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.
Backed by the other Gulf states, Oman has proposed a plan for joint regional control of the strait that would allow the payment of voluntary service charges.
But a senior Iranian official said Iran rejected the proposal as “unreasonable”.
The official said a 50-50 joint control arrangement with Oman would not serve Iran’s interests, though Tehran considers Oman a valuable neighbour.
Hopes of a cooling of regional tensions faded on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia joined the US in airstrikes that Washington and Riyadh said were in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded in the attacks.
Iraqi men shouted Shi’ite sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of fighters out of a hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq, footage from Iraq’s Al-Ahad television showed.
Iran said the attacks were an attempt by the United States and Israel to spread their war further in the region.
One of the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said US and Saudi forces would pay a “heavy price”.
